


Contingency Plans

by defractum (nyargles)



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-23 22:46:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9685052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nyargles/pseuds/defractum
Summary: The zombie apocalypse is starting. Good thing they've always had plans.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Dear inkalchemist,
> 
> I know you wanted a zombie au, but in keeping with the general sentiment of Valentine's Day, I've kept it relatively light hearted. I hope you don't mind!

They say it's something in the water.

They're not sure exactly what it is, which is really helpful, and they say that by the time that symptoms manifest it’s too late for treatment, which is even more helpful, and they also don't have a cure, which is the most helpful thing of all.

The news bulletin had flashed up on the TV on a rare night that Andrew and Neil were both home. Neil’s dealt with his fair share of gore, largely inflicted upon himself, but the pictures they show still aren’t pretty.

What they do know is minimal: it’s infectious through body fluids and it’s something that eats away at the brain. Executive function starts deteriorating, with victims losing memories of who they are, behaviour turning erratic and emotional with bouts of physical rage. Their brains lose the ability to communicate with the rest of their body, and it seems like victims can’t tell if they’ve eaten recently, which leads to an insatiable hunger.

 Apparently, hospital staff have contracted the infection themselves after patients have bitten them in the arm; when Andrew leans over and puts his mouth over Neil’s arm, Neil jumps a freaking mile in the air.

“Fuck, Andrew!”

Andrew grins, all teeth and no actual bite as Neil scowls at him, and tries to get his heart rate back down to normal. “So. Zombies.”

“Can we call them that?” Neil rubs at his arm and frowns. He’s not the most sensitive of people (PR have sent him on at least three courses about diplomacy and tact), but they’re real people, not some hypothetical cult media creation.

Andrew glances at the footage. “I don’t think they care what we call them.”

Their plans have changed over the years. For one thing, the Foxes are scattered all over now. Kevin's in Dallas; he’d had his pick of the pro teams and he’d actually considered his emotions for the first time in his life and gone for a team that let him and Thea see each other relatively frequently. Aaron's in med school, not that Neil honestly cares much about him, but Andrew does. Nicky's in Germany, and therefore probably safe, given the outbreak is only in the US.

Renee’s in India, volunteering with the Peace Corps, but her side of the group are all scattered too. Allison is -- god knows where, last week it was Paris and the week before that was Venice, Matt’s with the Atlanta Arrows, and Dan's the only one still in Palmetto, happily coaching the newest generation of Foxes, where Coach, Abby and Betsy are.

And, of course, Neil and Andrew have just moved into an apartment together -- Andrew's apartment actually -- since Neil's managed to get himself transferred onto his team.

So yeah, the contingency plan has changed. For one thing, it's not like Andrew will just head down the hallway to gather everyone up and go on the run like they’d originally planned. Those discussions over evening jogs and late night musings seem so much less ridiculous now.

Neil takes to the internet to verify the story – he might avoid social media, but he’s perfectly capable of working the rest of it – and ends up a little bemused. It turns out that a whole lot of other people have also made contingency plans just in case of zombies.

Neil would ask why, but that seems a little redundant right now. Also, the tips are very useful.

The man on the TV tells them not to panic. Symptoms are obvious, and the infected also start to lose mobility, so they should be relatively easy to spot and get away from. He also tells them not to go to Dallas, as there has recently been a large public outbreak thanks to a music festival, and local police are still quarantining the area.

“Dallas,” says Neil, whipping his head up to lock eyes with Andrew.

Andrew pulls out his own laptop and instantly starts looking up flights. “Call Kevin.”

Neil fishes his phone out, and dials. Kevin doesn't have a game tonight -- he knows, because he likes to watch them still when he can -- but he still sounds annoyed when he picks up. Neil ignores it, and launches straight into: "Have you seen the news about zombies?"

"Neil? What are you on about?" It sounds like he's about to hang up.

Neil says, again, "The news. Turn the TV on."

He hears Kevin grumbling as he gets the remote, and the sound of someone else. Oh, he must be having an evening in with Thea. Well, that answers the question of whether they're safe, anyway. When Kevin gets back on the phone, his voice is shrill. "Is this a hoax?"

"Kevin's not a zombie," says Neil to Andrew, putting him on loudspeaker as Kevin starts making increasingly more distressed noises. “Probably.”

"Why are you so calm about this?" Kevin says down the phone. "Viral outbreak in Dallas. Highly contagious? And why are you calling them zombies?"

“It’s easier than ‘unknown and highly dangerous infection’, isn’t it?”

Kevin swears. "I have a home game tomorrow! They're going to cancel it."

Andrew laughs, actually laughs out loud at him.

"It's not funny!"

Neil feels his own lips twitching. "You have shit priorities, Kevin."

There's a sound from the other end of the line; another call on Kevin's end. "It's my coach. Probably about this. I have to go." He hangs up.

“Flights into Dallas are being rerouted,” reports Andrew. “Come on.”

Neil grabs their go bags – Neil isn’t in any danger of running anymore, but they do live a life that involves a lot of travelling, and having a packed bag with the essentials in just makes things easier – and load them into the car. (They’d always said that they’d switch to a different car if zombies ever happened; Andrew’s is fast, sure, but it also guzzles oil like nothing else.)

Andrew is carrying their practice sticks when he emerges, which just about fit in the car if they lean them through the two front seats, and also juggling both cats. They yowl, and climb up onto his shoulders.

“What are those for?” Neil flings the go bags in around them.

Andrew blinks at him. “Emotional support. Unless you want to leave them here indefinitely while we go battle zombies?”

“I—fuck you, Andrew. I meant the sticks,” says Neil. Andrew knew that, of course. He bundles the cats into the back as well, where they yowl some more, and in the midst of his worry, Neil feels a vague burst of pride, or happiness, or something like that, that Andrew had gone for the cats unprompted.

Andrew drops himself into the driver’s seat. “Longer reach than a baseball bat and doesn’t need ammunition.”

Neil looks over at him, and grins. This is the man he’s chosen to take up with. He’s practical and calm in the face of disaster, and they’re going to drive their terribly inefficient car down to Dallas and kidnap Kevin. They’ve got their stupidly named cats with them and everything they need to run away together. They’re going to be fine.

 

 

**Epilogue**

 

Kevin shrieks the first time Andrew takes a swing at a zombie, horrified at their treatment of their Exy sticks, and tries to climb out the car window. Both cats sink their claws into his thighs, Neil finds a packet of trail mix at the bottom of his go-bag he'd forgotten about and Andrew refuses to swap his car for a nice sensible Honda.

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on [tumblr](http://defractum.tumblr.com)!


End file.
